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Ten things you may not know about me

The following post is inspired by Brook McCarthy’s recent blog on Yoga Reach I thought it was so cool to find out more about Brook and thought it would be a fun exercise for me to go outside the box and expose myself a little more. Let me know what you think and don’t be shy I’d love to hear something new about you too.

I am a real Dutch girlI was born and spent the first 7 years of my life in Holland and yes I speak dutch – the equivalent of a seven year old. Another fun fact from my dutch days; apparently in kindergarten on the Queen’s birthday I swallowed a small whistle.

I’m kinda sportyIn my formative years I played tennis, was on the gymnastics team, loved cross country skiing, the odd downhill ski, was an obsessive biker and used to jog daily.

I trained to be a Waldorf EducatorWhile my son was young I enrolled in a foundation year at our local Waldorf school and really enjoyed learning about the process of education. For my practical I taught in all the grades and honed my skills in story telling, craft and singing. I was actually considering applying for a job at the school but Yoga won out in the end.

I built my own LooWhen I bought my first property in Goonengerry, NSW my boyfriend insisted that the most important item to have was a composting loo. In those days you had to build one. So that’s what I did. I got mighty handy with a hammer, saw, wood and nails and built my loo next to a spectacular view.

I ran a sweat lodge for a Women’s retreatBack in my 30’s I was employed as an activities coordinator at the Cape Retreat in Byron Bay. I introduced the women to ritual through the cleansing effects of a Native American Sweat Lodge ceremony. I spent most of the time shovelling rocks and generally sweating to death but it was pretty fun all the same.

I had a home birth in the waterI still can’t believe how lucky I was to have a lay midwife with 1000 births under her belt and the encouragement to birth at home in the water. It took me 36 hrs, I had no medical intervention and was able to pull my son out of the water and watch him take his first breath.

I really don’t like amusement parksWhen I was little my parents took me to Disneyland. Everything was going swell until we went on the “ Tomorrowland” ride. I happened to see a model of tiny people emerging from the tunnel we were about to enter and was convinced I would shrink too. I had a tantrum right there and then and refused to get on the cart and have avoided amusement parks ever since.

I’m a freak for waterI’ve never particularly craved hot drinks and can’t make a good cup of tea or coffee. Juice is too sweet and soft drinks make me burp. If I come over for a visit I am happy with a glass of water but if you think I’m easy to please forget it. I’m as fussy as an expert tea drinker. I like my water filtered or enjoy spring water’s many top name brands.

My Ballet career peaked at age 10Most people know I was a professional modern dancer and choreographer. However Ballet was my first love. I was lucky enough to star as Clara in the Nutcracker with the Boston Ballet at the age of ten. My parents still wax lyrical about the moment I sat on the shoulders of the transformed Nutcracker and commanded the christmas tree to rise to towering heights.

I’m pretty spontaneous when it come to creativityWhether its writing, dancing, singing, painting, photography or amateur film making, I like to dive in quick and get the job done. Some people like to nut out every word in a sentence or work through a painting with incredible detail. I don’t really have the patience or the tenacity. I like to be spontaneous when I create and don’t really bother about it being perfect. If I like it thats good enough for me